Danger Down Under
by Thomas Orion
Summary: The story of a shark research crew and their dramatic lives aboard the Black Coral. READ AND REVIEW
1. Chapter 1

~DISCLAIMER~

This story was written by a colleague of mine his pen name is Sinbad©. He does not own a fanfiction account so I offered to post this and we agreed. We mutually hope you enjoy this. The setting is the Discovery Channel ® game Sharkrunners©

Chapter 1

The ship's bow cut through the water, stirring up a frothy wake. A pair of dolphins playfully rode the bow wave, occasionally jumping out of the water. Sven stared out over the pilot house instruments, watching, reading the water as he steered the research vessel, Black Coral, through the emerald waters off the coast of northeastern Australia. He gripped the wheel with an iron grip, evidence of his rising anxiety. He wondered to himself how he had ever gotten to this point. It had been about a month since the accident had left him the lead diver and ship's captain. He thought back on the accident, still unsure how or even what had happened. Regardless, he had been happy with the extra income and certain amount of prestige that came with the position. His employers, the Monterey Oceanographic Research Institute or MORI, had compensated him well. However, the extra ten percent did little to calm his anxiety. His thoughts drifted back to when he first joined the crew. His childhood and young adult maritime experience on the fjords of Norway and Sweden had honed his skills. The crew of the Black Coral readily accepted him as one of their own, although, the one called Santiago sometimes left him wondering. Everything now would be o.k., if he hadn't gotten himself in such a jam. Now, he was at a loss as to what to do. So he turned to the bottle. Even now, as he navigated the ship, he was wanting a drink. As soon as his shift at the wheel was over, he was heading for his cabin, and comfort from the bottle.

Early the next morning, the Black Coral eased into the chosen anchorage in preparation for researching tiger sharks. The echos of the rattling anchor chain faded across the wide ocean as the crew went about the business of securing from sailing and setting up the research equipment. Sven, red eyed, from his nightly consumption was looking over the remote sharkcam, getting it ready to deploy when the time came. Santiago glanced at Sven a couple times as he was putting scuba tanks into the rack, a wicked smile on his lips. He knew that Sven had been drinking, for he had been bringing rum aboard in Gatorade bottles and generously providing it to Sven under the guise of concern about Sven's anxiety. Santiago's thoughts were interrupted as Brent arrived with more tanks. Brent was the pretty-boy crew member who fancied himself with the women. Brent was an able enough hand, just not particularly motivated to do anything other than research. When it came to clean-up or any other mundane task, Brent was usually not to be found. What irritated Santiago the most about Brent though, was the fact that Brent was making moves on Lizzy, the attractive diver with raven black hair. Santiago licked his lips as he thought about Lizzy. Now there was a woman, one that he fancied for himself. Well, when the time was right, Brent would no longer be in his way, but for now, Santiago had other things to worry about.

Mari was returning from the front of the ship when Lizzy spotted her. "How's it looking?" Mari replied with a non-committal "Alright" and continued on down the corridor. Lizzy watched her go, then headed for the data room, time to boot up the computers.

The sun was showing signs of slipping into the western seas when Sven and Santiago finished securing the equipment from the days activities. Sven looked tense and seemed distant. Santiago looked at him a minute and said, "Amigo, why don't you go to your cabin, I'll take your watch." Sven half smiled and thanked him, then turned and headed for his cabin and the bottle. As Santiago was heading towards the pilot house, he passed the galley. Brent was sitting closely beside Lizzy, talking quietly to her and she would giggle periodically. Santiago clenched his teeth and continued down the corridor.

Abigail, a mousy young woman who would not stand out in a crowd, was checking Brent's diving gear the next morning. Odd..., his tank was only half filled with air. If he had dove with this tank, he would have run out of air before completing his dive. Abigail assumed that Brent had been careless about prepping his gear as he put it away last night. She would fill it up and let him know that she had looked out for him. She went though the whole scenario in her mind, his ready smile and good looks warming up to her in gratitude for her vigilance. Even though she was the newest member of the research team, she knew that Brent was meant for her. This was the man who made her feel pretty.

Sven had done 12 dives this day and then retired to his cabin. He got the call to return to the fantail about an hour later, seems one of the tagged sharks was approaching the ship and they needed data from it. Even though he had already consumed a liter of grog, Sven headed to the fantail, not wanting to bring attention to himself by not showing up. What he didn't know was Santiago had loosened the railing next to the decoy launch. As Sven leaned over to let out the line, the railing gave way and into the drink he fell, the decoy rope looping around his leg. A tiger shark was already approaching the turtle decoy and the sudden tension on the rope snapped Sven's leg. Everyone heard his screams of pain and rushed to aide him. Santiago ran to the radio room to call for a MEDIVAC while Brent, Lizzy, and Abigail tended to Sven. Santiago was already planning how he would announce that he was the acting lead dive, the position he had coveted. A couple hours later the helicopter made it's appearance on the horizon. Before long, Sven was MEDIVACd to Cairns. Santiago quickly announced that he was now the lead diver.....

Santiago had firmly established himself as the lead diver, much to every ones chagrin. Brent, didn't give much thought to such politics however, was definitely interested in Lizzy......

Today, a night dive was planned for the intrepid crew. Wil, Sven's replacement, was scheduled to dive with Abigail. Wil is really an undercover investigator for the International Shark Researchers Insurance Trust (ISRIT) on a mission to determine why so many lost diver claims have been filed recently by the Black Coral. When Wil and Abigail returned from their dive, Lizzy and Mari were scheduled to run the turtle decoy. Abigail volunteered to assist Lizzy rig up, however, what Lizzy didn't know was that Abigail was intent on ensuring that Brent was HER man.....

Lizzy released the turtle decoy and was preparing to enter the diving cage when the winch hoisting the cage suddenly went into free-spin mode. The cage fell on the turtle decoy line and prevented it from feeding out properly. JR was engaging the decoy and the rope suddenly whipped up and snatched Lizzy overboard. Mari jumped in to attempt to save Lizzy, who was tangled in the rope, but JR took off dragging both divers to their watery grave.

Later that night, Wil enter into his hidden report that the 5th and 6th divers reported lost this week had certainly questionable demises......Brent has been ruled out, as he is obviously shaken by Lizzy's loss and Santiago is certainly worried by the loss of 2 divers so soon after he assumed lead diver.....  
Abigail seems almost happy by the tragic events of the day........


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

....Three days ago.....

The mood on the boat was somber, with the exception of Abigail. Santiago had no second thoughts about helping Sven get the one-way ticket to the mainland, but the loss of his perceived prize Lizzy was a blow to his ambitions. Un-beknownst to Brent, his days on the ship had been extended, at least for the present. Abigail, on the other hand, went about her duties humming softly to herself and always seemed to be near Brent no matter where he was or what he was doing. So far, Brent hadn't seem to notice her much, but Abigail knew he would come around soon enough, hence her cheerfulness.

In an effort to get Lizzy out of his mind, Santiago went to Sven's quarters and started gathering up his personal effects to ship out on the next port call. While going through the belongings, he noticed a book tucked under the mattress of the bunk. When he started thumbing through the book, he discovered it was in fact a diary. Curiosity got the best of him so he started reading some of the last few pages. Santiago was stunned........ Sven had apparently been secretly seeing Tiara on the research ship Escutcheon, owned by the famous researcher known throughout the circles only as "El Tabron". What was stunning to Santiago though, was the fact that Tiara was his mother's 1st cousin and favored child. Santiago's mother was the head of the household and godmother of the family fortune. Santiago's grandfather had amassed a huge fortune black-marketing Cuban rum with Jamaican labels and sold in Puerto Rico to the US tourists. The family power had passed to his grandfather's son, Santiago's father, and when his father disappeared under questionable circumstances, Santiago's mother took over the "business".

Santiago dashed to the radio room and established contact with the Escutcheon. It was then that he heard that the very day after Sven's departure, Tiara met a similar fate. What would La Madre think if she found out? Santiago feared he would be disinherited, with extreme prejudice........she must not find out......

As Santiago left the radio room, pondering his fate, he failed to see Wil leaning against the nearby bulkhead watching him walk down the corridor...............

Wil sat on his bunk and thought about the situation he was in........

The trip to Bamaga had been a busy one. Santiago seemed obsessed about something and very intent on making up the research points that Lizzy and Mari would have collected. Santiago and Brent were doing double duty with the data collection.

Mari was an interesting riddle, nobody knew much about her, and apparently she stayed pretty much to herself when not diving. Seemed strange that she so quickly went in after Lizzy.

Abigail cheerfully went about her tasks and made sure she was always around Brent. Wil pondered that for a moment and then continued his original train of thought. For his own part, the fact that he was also a chef help remove any questions about his minimal diving. They were fine with him preparing meals in between dives which also saved them from their turns at cooking.

The course to Bamaga was set rather than the previous journeys to Port Moresby because there was no longer a need to go so far for high caliber replacements. The coveted N.E.R.D.(National Excellence in Research Diving) ranking, which so many other research ships had sought was firmly in their grasps. Bamaga was much closer and allowed for a quicker return to diving.

Waiting on the docks were two divers, apparently sent over from the MORI headquarters. Curious, they had never sent anyone over before, freelance divers were the usual hires. Nikki was a svelte young lady that was not only a knock-out in looks, but carried a very impressive resume. With her was a you man, Jack, who said his real name was Jackson, but wanted us to call him Jack. Jack looked like he was right off the beaches of Southern California and should be carrying a surf board instead of the diving bags and gear. Strange...there was some vague resemblance between the two newest divers. Wil decided that there was a lot more going on than what meets the eye. Now if only he could figure it all out, and hopefully stay alive in the process.....


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Nikki was rinsing off and stowing her gear in the equipment room when Jack sauntered in. He did a casual look around and then said, "'Sup sis". Nikki whirled around and snapped, "I TOLD you not to call me that while we were working". "Do you want to give us away?!?". Jack's casual reply annoyed her even more...."Don't sweat it, nobody can hear us, I checked". "Besides, I wanted to fill you in on what I've found out."

Jack proceeded to tell Nikki that Santiago was a womanizer and had some moderate gambling debts but there was more about him the reports failed to mention. There was some connection between Santiago and the shadowy figure known as "La Madre", but nothing concrete yet. Also, for some unknown reason, Santiago was rather upset about a diving incident aboard another research vessel in the general vicinity, but Jack was not sure what that was all about either. He also cautioned Nikki about Brent, he had watched Brent stare at her when she was coming aboard. "I think Brent has the hots for you", he told her. Nikki brushed off this comment with a wave of her hand. Jack continued...."Watch that Wil fellow too, he seems a little too watchful and a little too quiet". "I don't trust him". Nikki thought it over a minute and nodded her head. They heard someone talking in the corridor and heading in their direction. Jack turned and with a casual wave sauntered out the door, singing a Beach Boys song as he went. Nikki stood there thinking over what Jack had told her, a slight frown forming at the corners of her mouth.

Wil was busy chopping up carrots for the pot roast he was preparing for dinner. While he worked, he kept trying to figure out what was bothering him about the two newest divers. Something was there, but.......his thoughts were interrupted by Abigail as she came into the galley. She stood there looking over what he was preparing and softly humming to herself. She then went over to the espresso machine and poured a shot. The way she carried it without taking a sip told Wil that it was intended for Brent. Wil wondered how that was going to play out as he had seen how Brent had stared at Nikki. Yep, there were probably going to be some fireworks in the future.........

Santiago stood on the bull nose of the ship and stared out over the ocean. In the far distance, he thought he could detect another ship and wondered if it was the Escutcheon. His thoughts on Tiara, he slowly turned his head in the direction where land should be and suddenly thought he spotted another ship. But when he looked back, it was not there. A look of concern passed over his brow. He had heard a report of pirates in the area, but didn't believe it to be true. Now he wondered.............


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jack was standing with his hands on the railing looking off across the water. The sun was bright but he was amidships and under the upper deck overhang and out of the sunlight. He was a little tired from hauling in the Tigers and tagging and releasing them as well as running the turtle decoy. Even though he had been paired off with Nikki, he had said little to her all day. It was when he was paired with Wil that he engaged in casual conversation. Wil was a tough read, he was good at avoiding answering questions designed to gain information on him. At the same time, he posed his own questions to Jack that were increasingly hard to avoid. Jack was working on the Wil issue when he sensed a presence behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Brent standing there. Brent seemed unsure of himself and presented the appearance of someone with a question that he was uncomfortable asking. Brent smiled slightly as he turn his eyes back to the water....."Dude....I got no claim to Nikki, so just chill." "She ain't my type, and...", he looked back around and made eye contact with Brent, "....she ain't yours either.....take my word on it." Brent was uncomfortable with the look, but elated to know that his way to Nikki was clear!

Later.....

Jack entered his cabin after carefully checking to see if anyone had seen him. The coast was clear. Jack went over to his bunk and pulled out a locked pelican case. He spun the dial on the combination lock and quickly unlock it. The foam in the case had cut-out shapes for diving gear, but were empty at the moment. Jack carefully lifted the foam out and the underside also had cut-outs, but for various weapons. Jack studied the contents for a moment and then selected a Sig P229 pistol and also a screw-on silencer. He has seen a glimpse of a ship shadowing the Black Coral when he was on the deck and decided to be prepared for whatever might happen. He made sure the gun was loaded and then slipped it into the wiring chase that was suspended from the overhead, confident that nobody would look there.

Brent was in the equipment room stowing gear from the day's sharkrunning activities. Abigail was ever present helping him with the gear. Nikki was across the room working on a frayed rope, her fingers nimbly splicing a new section on the rope. Brent stared at her for a moment, then look at Abigail. "Boy, I sure could use a shot of espresso". Abigail cheerfully stated that she would get it for him and took off heading for the galley. Brent licked his lips and then casually walked across the room towards Nikki. "You do that like a pro...," he gestured towards the rope. Nikki did not even look up. "Aren't you afraid your little servant girl will get jealous?" He was stopped in his tracks, and nervously looked around. This wasn't going like he had rehearsed in his mind. "I'm not sure what you mean....Abigail is just a co-worker...there's nothing going on between us". Nikki continued working and still did not make eye contact with him. The silence was awkward and made him even more uncomfortable. Finally, Nikki spoke again, "I suggest you beat it before you get more than you can handle...", she then looked up and gave him a smile that sent shivers down his spine. Brent went back to the other side of the room, silently cursing himself for not being the smooth operator that he was so used to being. This woman was definitely a challenge.

Wil slipped into the storage room in the ship's hold. The red lens flashlight gave off little light, but was enough for Wil to search the room. He quickly scanned the room and found the cage where Mari's stuff had been place for shipping at the next port call. Wil expertly went through the stuff and was about to set aside a compact disk player that was in the duffel bag when something stopped him. He studied it for a moment and then it dawned on him that this was really a small gps transmitter. Now why would Mari be transmitting locations, and to whom?  
He quickly replaced the items and re-stowed the duffel. When he was sure that nobody was outside the door, he quickly departed the room......


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The night dragged on until Santiago could no longer stay in his bunk. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was still two hours before daylight. He got up and and slightly staggered against the gentle rocking of the ship. After splashing some water on his face from the basin, he dressed and headed for the galley. Might as well grab a shot of espresso before planning the days research activities. What he really wanted was a demitasse of good Cuban coffee. He missed the unrefined sweetness of the cane sugar whipped to a froth on the strong brew......now THAT was how you should start your day! He made his way in the semi-darkness of the lights-out condition of the ship, navigating by the red night lights to the galley. Expecting to have the room to himself, he was surprised to see the room ablaze with white lights and Wil already there. Wil glance up from what he was doing and merely stated, "Spanish omelet for breakfast", and then returned to what he was doing. Santiago frowned and took his espresso to a corner table. He brought the research data records with him to go over and proceeded to open the binder. He absently flipped the pages to the current one and ran his eyes down the columns. He and Brent were doing the lions share of the work, that was obvious, but necessary to continue to pull in the higher numbers. He smiled slightly at the thought of the ten percent bonus he was getting in addition to the lead diver pay. Yes.....pushing the limits was necessary until all these new divers were skilled enough to make up the difference. Then he would allow himself to relax a little and focus on other pressing issues. The smile turned back to a frown.

Abigail was humming to herself as she made her way down the corridor en-route to the galley. She liked getting Brent a cup of espresso and having it ready when he got up. Her thoughts were on Brent as she passed the radio room. Nikki's sudden appearance in the radio room door startled her. "What were you doing in there?", she asked Nikki. Nikki smoothly replied that she was checking for weather reports on the marine telex for the days diving. Abigail nodded, "Any thing of concern?" "Nope, just clear, calm, and sunny." Abigail again nodded her head and return to her previous thoughts, making her way down the corridor. Nikki had started in the opposite direction, but quickly returned to the radio room as soon as Abigail was out of sight. She made her way to the short wave radio and dialed the frequency to 3945 kHz and spoke softly into the mic...."GBX, GBX, sunset three one, negative joy, event horizon....acknowledge". She waited an anxious moment and then the reply finally came....."This is GBX, acknowledged, out". Nikki returned the frequency dial to its previous setting and eased up to the door. Once she was sure it was clear, she quickly made her way down the corridor.

The day's sharkrunning activities progress routinely......Nikki and Jack would start off with a catch, tag, and release, Abigail and Wil would be working the turtle decoy, Santiago and Brent would work surface observations. Each team would alternate between the three methods three times, then shut down to rest and allow the sharks to calm down before the next series of encounters.

It was during one of these rest periods that Brent and Jack were casually chatting about sharkrunning in general. Brent was the more experienced and seemed more that ready to assume the "expert" position in the conversations. Jack encouraged this dialog by asking questions that indicated his inexperience. Brent was going on about the lead diver role and Sven's problems. At Jack's request, Brent delved into what he knew about Sven. Seems he was a top notch lead diver who spent most of his port calls checking on what ships were in port and then disappearing until time to weigh anchor. After about a month of being in the lead roll, he seemed to change. Rumors had it that there was some female that he had hooked-up with and she was the cause of his anxiety. Sven seemed to fear for his life with every dive and with every shark encounter......Brent finished up with, "Maybe he had intuition". Abigail approached with an espresso so Jack used this break to excuse himself and wandered off. Now what would cause Sven to fear for his life? Jack caught movement on the upper deck and glanced up. Nikki was watching him from above. When his eyes made contact with hers, she slowly reached up to her right ear, tugged it slightly and then nodded to Jack. So, contact had been established........

Wil was dozing in his cabin when he was awaken by a slight noise. He laid still and listen intently. At first, he heard nothing and began to think maybe he was just hearing things, then he heard it again. He quietly got up and eased over to the porthole. He could hear voices from another open porthole, but couldn't quite hear the whole conversation. Who ever it was, it sounded like at least one of them was angry. There was a threatening sound to the voice. Now what was that all about? Wil went back to his bunk and debated whether to attempt to get closer, or just wait and watch. He was a still a little sleepy, so chose the latter......

Brent sat still thinking over what had just occurred. He felt a little guilty, but only a little. Abigail was a nice enough girl, but too clingy and was smothering him with her attention. Perhaps he had been a little too harsh with his rebuking her. He was prepared to be challenged by her once he slammed the door, so to speak, but she just melted into tears and rush off sobbing. Ah, go figure.......He turned back to the computer and returned to entering newly acquired data into the database. His thoughts soon drifted to Nikki. Now that Abigail was out of the way, perhaps Nikki would be a bit more receptive to his advances...... Brent was narcissistic and therefore sure that Nikki would find him irresistible.

Nikki watched as Abigail left the data control room crying. She had heard the stern voice and without having heard the conversation, was able to connect the dots. That's all she needed, a self proclaim Romeo pestering her while she was on a mission. He obviously didn't take the hint, so perhaps a more direct approach will be necessary the next time, and she was sure there would be a next time......


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Time was against Santiago, even with the lead diver extra income and the bonuses, he was still way short of the debt he owed. He had better have it by the time they hit port again. He was very familiar with what would happen if he didn't..........The obvious solution was to increase the data collection by increasing the shark encounters, but that incurred a greater risk of loosing divers to shark attacks. He had been around long enough to have witnessed expert divers make tragic mistakes because of fatigue. It took so long to build up a new diver to the skill level necessary for earning the big bucks that it was not worth the risk of a loss. Stamina was another issue. These new divers just weren't old school like he was, tough and strong from life's hardships, they were a bunch of cream puffs that needed extensive training to gain the strength and endurance for a high number of daily dives. It was a balancing act between pressing for higher returns and yet minimizing the dangers........maybe he should have just stuck with smuggling instead of trying to go legit..........

Jack was alone on the fantail, scanning the horizon. There it was again! He pulled out a pair of binoculars and tried to focus on the suspicious image. He could barely make out the top of a ships mast where the ocean met the sky, but it was the brief appearance of a distant periscope that had caught his attention. He lowered the binoculars and thought a moment, then turned quickly and headed back forward. Nikki needed to know this.........

When Jack found Nikki, she was in the galley relaxing with a diet soda. Santiago was in the corner going over a binder. Jack glanced at Nikki and tugged on his left ear. He then got a shot of espresso and headed back out. Nikki waited about two minutes and then casually tossed off the rest of her soda, threw the empty can in the recycling bag and walked out the door. She headed toward her cabin, but detoured before she got there. When she came to the ladder that went to the upper deck, she took it, carefully looking around all the while. Jack was waiting for her below the unmanned pilot house. She could see that he was positioned to be able to see if anyone else should appear. Before Nikki could say anything, Jack started speaking quickly and softly......"We're being followed by not only a ship, but also a submarine." Nikki frowned, "Could you tell anything about it?" Jack related that is was only a medium sized sub, based on the size of the periscope. The shape indicated that is was either a commercial sub or perhaps an old World War II relic. Nikki asked about the ship. Jack's reply was that it was too far away to tell anything yet. Nikki did not like any of this. "Keep a sharp look out and I'll see if I can slip back in on the shortwave and send an inquiry." Jack cautioned her about going to the radio too often. She nodded and then left him standing there.

Abigail was just about out of tears, lying on her bunk, dry sobbing. Why had Brent been so mean to her? Hadn't she done everything that he wanted? Hadn't he been pleased with her attention? What could have gone wrong?......It was that witch, that new diver Nikki!......Abigail sat up and wiped her sleeve across her red eyes. Well, if that was the problem, Abigail knew how to handle that.........

Santiago slapped the binder closed. Enough goofing off, time to get back to making money.......He rose and headed out to gather the researchers. Perhaps he should have some of the newer divers go to cage diving, that would boost the data points. If he put Brent and that new guy, Jack, together, that might be just the combination he needed...........


End file.
